Modular flooring system having tiles with an interlocking structure are known in the prior art. For example, US2011/0011020 discloses an interlocking plastic tile structure having a PVC base layer in which a plurality of protruding tongues and grooves are provided at respective sides of the tile for connecting with an adjacent tile. Each tile comprises a PVC base or substrate layer, a surface layer with an attractive pattern (such as stone material leather, ceramic, rubber, wood and the like) thereon adhered to the base layer, and a transparent protective layer on the surface layer to protect the pattern. In use, the tiles are interconnected using the tongue and groove system to provide an modular flooring arrangement which eliminates the need to apply adhesive to the floor when laying the tiles, thereby making installation of the tiles more efficient.
However, in the above system significant problems arise in the tile manufacturing process, including difficulties in accurately positioning the surface pattern layer on the base layer, and shrinkage of layers during the moulding and curing process causing the layers not to be perfectly square, thereby resulting in an imperfect fit between the base and the surface layer.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a tile and method of forming a tile which alleviates the above-mentioned disadvantages.